Radical Health Rebel
Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel Podcast, where Leigh, a renowned Functional Medicine Practitioner, CHEK Practitioner, CHEK Faculty Instructor, Active Release Techniques® Therapist, Emotion Code Practitioner, author, and podcast host, takes you on a journey to achieve optimal health, wellness, and happiness. With his extensive training and years of clinical experience, Leigh provides a truly holistic approach to health that has proven effective even when other methods have failed.
Join us every week for insightful discussions and expert interviews focusing on chronic pain, gut health, and skin health. Leigh's diverse background and passion for holistic healing brings you valuable knowledge and practical tips from leading experts in the field. Whether you're struggling with persistent health issues or simply looking to enhance your well-being, the Radical Health Rebel Podcast is your go-to resource for achieving a vibrant and healthy life. Tune in and start your journey to radical health today!
Radical Health Rebel
147 - The Power of Touch – Reducing Pain with Reflexologist Njedika Olatunde
Welcome back to the Radical Health Rebel Podcast! In this episode, we dive into The Power of Touch and how it can be harnessed to reduce pain and promote healing. I’m joined by Reflexologist and wise woman Njedika Olatunde, who brings decades of experience in natural healing, specializing in reflexology and the body’s innate ability to restore balance.
We explore the science and wisdom behind reflexology, the profound effects of therapeutic touch on the nervous system, and how hands-on healing can be a powerful tool for pain relief. Njedika shares her insights on how reflexology works, why touch is such an essential aspect of well-being, and how you can incorporate these principles into your daily life.
If you're looking for natural, non-invasive ways to manage pain and improve overall health, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
We discussed:
0:00
Pain as a Teacher: Listening to Your Body
9:20
Introduction to Reflexology and Healing Touch
22:49
Beyond Quick Fixes: The Pain-Stress Connection
36:35
Taking Power Back: Holistic Approaches to Pain
53:21
The Science of Reflexology Explained
1:06:23
Cultural Wisdom in Healing Practices
1:11:16
Gratitude and Final Thoughts
You can find Njedika @:
Website: www.focusonhealing.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/njidekanolatunde
Instagram: https://instagram.com/evolving_butterfly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@changingliveswithtouchology
FaceBook: https://facebook.com/PainReliefwithReflexology
X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/FOHReflexology
Don't forget to leave a Rating for the podcast!
You can find Leigh @:
Leigh's website - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/
Leigh's books - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/books/
Substack - https://substack.com/@radicalhealthrebel
YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@radicalhealthrebelpodcast
Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/user/RadicalHealthRebel
Leigh's courses:
StickAbility - https://stickabilitycourse.com/
Mastering Client Transformation - https://www.functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/mastering-client-transformation/
Eliminate Adult Acne Programme - https://eliminateadultacne.com/
So now I'm going to give you the real deal. And now you're dealing with excruciating pain because you didn't pay attention. When you pay attention, now you're in control of how to take back the pain from affecting you mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, because you're paying attention to the body.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel podcast. I'm your host, lee Brandom. This work started for me several decades ago when I started to see the impact I could make on people, helping them to identify the root cause of their health problems that no doctor could figure out, including serious back, knee, shoulder and neck injuries, acne and eczema issues, severe gut health problems, even helping couples get pregnant after several IVF treatments had failed. And it really moves me to be able to help people in this way, and that is why I do what I do and why we have this show. Welcome back to the Radical Health Rebel podcast.
Speaker 2:In this episode, we dive into the power of touch and how it can be harnessed to reduce pain and promote healing. I'm joined by reflexologist and wise woman, njidika Olotunde, who brings decades of experience in natural healing, specializing in reflexology and the body's innate ability to restore balance. We explore the science and wisdom behind reflexology, the profound effects of therapeutic touch on the nervous system, and how hands-on healing can be a powerful tool for pain relief. Njadika shares her insights on how reflexology works, why touch is such an essential aspect of well-being and how you can incorporate these principles into your daily life If you're looking for natural, non-invasive ways to manage pain and improve overall health. You won't want to miss this episode and Jadika Olatunde. Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel podcast. Thanks for coming on the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me and I'm looking forward to sharing with your listeners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great to have you on the show and to kick things off. Could you perhaps share your educational and professional background and also what motivated you to become interested in the power of touch and reflexology?
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, that's a powerful question. Now let me see how I can break that down. Well, first I'll tell you how I got started. As a child I grew up with home remedies and back then doctors used to come to the home for house call visits and as a child I said, oh wow, that's what I want to be when I grow up. You know, I saw doctors as being healers and I wanted to be a healer.
Speaker 1:So by the time I got to college I got a rude awakening that that's not what doctors do and I said, okay, well, I guess I won't make a good doctor. So I changed my career and went into social work and I covered the whole gambit in social work working with infants to seniors and every type of social service issue that was covered. That's what I did. But one of the things that disturbed me the most was that people were going to the emergency room as their primary physician and I said, well, something's wrong with this picture and that kind of sparked the energy again to me wanting to become a doctor. And at that time it was opening up to the alternative practitioners and training programs and I went back and got my training and became a naturopathic practitioner training and became a naturopathic practitioner. And as a practitioner I was originally trained in reflexology. So I added that to my practice and from the reflexology I started using that as a means of relieving pain, using the power of touch. So that's how it kind of evolved to what I do today.
Speaker 2:So your training is as a naturopath and you studied reflexology. Yes, anything else that you use as well, anything else that you've studied. That's kind of relevant.
Speaker 1:Well, basically, because my initial training in reflexology came from a cultural health perspective and I spent many years just focusing and studying reflexology you to train, nationally, internationally, locally as well, in terms of just really fine-tuning the art and mastering the skills of incorporating touch as a healing tool, because one of the things that, for some reason, we only think of touch as something physical, but touch as it relates to healing is a lot more than that, because touch is something that affects us mentally, emotionally and spiritually, physically as well. Incorporating all of those into reflexology as a modality that focuses specifically on relieving pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know from my own studies. So one of the institutes I studied with is the Czech Institute and in some of the training we did look into reflexology not in you know, I'm sure, the depth that you have, because you know we're talking about probably half a day's training, whereas you probably studied it for years but one of the things that we were using it for was so in one respect, we get our clients to fill in lots of questionnaires and it gives us lots of ideas in terms of what systems might potentially be going wrong in the body. And then what you can do is you can use reflexology points to back up. So it might be okay, they've scored high on the liver. Let's, let's just test their, their liver reflex point. It's saying the foot does it, does it match, match, right. Have you ever used reflexology for that kind of purpose?
Speaker 1:Well, basically, let me kind of qualify that Basically, when you think of reflexology, you think of reflexology in the conventional and allopathic way of dealing with treatment. But theoretically, reflexology focuses specifically on the whole body, from head to toe. And I say that to say it's because wherever you are experiencing pain in the body, that's not the cause, that's just the outlet. Like we'll use the example of the liver, okay, the liver area, nerve ending on the hands and feet, may have an issue related to toxicity. Related to toxicity, it may have an issue related to that area. Maybe an old pain area on the hands or feet or that area could also be dealing with poor circulation in that nerve ending to the liver reflex point. So there are a lot of combinations. But when you talk about using as a questionnaire, that's very keen as it relates to reflexology, because one of the things that a reflexologist does first as a practitioner, when we talk about touch, the first form of touch in the healing process is known as listening. And so when a client comes to me and I always use this analogy is that when you go to the store and you want to buy something, you know exactly what it is you want to buy and that's what you go and purchase. When a person comes to me and they're in pain, what they want to buy is pain relief. That's what they're looking for. They're not looking for anything else. All they want is relief from pain. But before I can even get to that point of giving them what they want, I have to listen, and when I'm listening, what I'm allowing them to do is to talk to me about their pain.
Speaker 1:And what I'm specifically listening for is what we don't never talk about is the pain stress connection. All of illnesses are related to stress, and stress is something that happens outside of the body, that we bring inside, and that's where it starts breaking down weak areas in the body in the form of pain that can really manifest into what can be a defined illness. But it's all connected to stress, and so once I'm able to connect the stress area, now we can move to what I call relieving pain first before treatment, what I call relieving pain first before treatment. And when we do it like that, what we're talking about is integrating other alternative therapies into the treatment process, because there's no one therapy that can do it all.
Speaker 1:We have 11 sisters of the body that need different things. So, in terms of what may be going on, does that mean that we need to see a chiropractor? We may need to see an acupuncturist, we may need to see a massage therapist. Is physical therapy involved? Do we need exercise? Do we need cleansing? Do we need energy healing? There's a combination of things that you put into place as a treatment protocol in addressing what's causing the pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean what you've just described. There is a holistic approach, right? Yes, I mean, that word is quite often overly used, but what you've described is a holistic approach and obviously you can add more things in there, and I'm sure you do potentially use more things. But you know, quite often, you know, I can remember years ago I was working in a health club this was probably 25 years ago, Uh-huh and we had what was called a holistic studio.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:All it meant was they taught yoga and pilates. Yes, yeah, that was considered holistic. Well, I mean, I guess, proper yoga.
Speaker 1:You could potentially say that that is holistic potentially it's an integrative approach and see, that's what we're looking at integration, how you integrate various modalities to work in oneness together and see this is something that there's only one branch of medicine in allopathic that does this. Do you think you know what that is?
Speaker 2:In allopathic medicine.
Speaker 1:Well, I would say that has an integrative approach.
Speaker 2:Well, I would say that general practitioners are supposed to be, but they probably don't. But no, I couldn't. I couldn't name one surgery.
Speaker 1:Oh, explain, when you're in surgery, what do you have? The anesthesiologist, you may have a cardiovascular. You know you have different practitioners in there at the same time working their specific area in the surgery. That's the only area where you have an integrative approach of multiple doctors working together in oneness to complete the surgery yeah, yeah, I, I kind of, I kind of get what you're saying there.
Speaker 2:Um, what? What? My experience of surgery is and I and I and I know you're making a different point, but my under my experience with surgery. Let's say someone comes to me and they've got knee pain. Let's say, well, I look at the whole, the whole being sure, right, the physical, the mental, emotional, spiritual, exactly. But if you go to an orthopedic surgeon with knee pain, right, you know the saying, if you're only tall as a hammer, everything's going to look like a nail Right, exactly. So if you go to a surgeon, what's?
Speaker 1:the likely treatment you're going to get. It's going to cut something out, most likely, right you?
Speaker 2:know. So in that aspect, aspect surgery isn't properly holistic. But in the I don't understand what you were saying in the actual moment of surgery, yes, they've got anestheticians, the thing that I was really getting and trust me, you know I understand exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as it relates to surgery, the thing is is it's the fact that you just have a combination of many different practitioners working together, and that's the thing that makes it holistic and integrative when we can have multiple practitioners working together in their specific modality to bring about healing and wellness to the clients and patients that you serve yeah, yeah, gotcha gotcha.
Speaker 2:So. So you were saying the first step before touch was to was to listen yes and it might be that that person needs something before they have reflexology. Yes, so in that instance, do you have like a team of people you tend to refer to? Is that how it works for you?
Speaker 1:That's basically after we deal with the pain, and to back up as soon as you have a client who is now feeling some sense of relief as it relates to the pain, they're now more apt to want to work with you in putting together a treatment plan. Because one of the things about allopathic medicine bar none it's excellent on diagnosing, bar none it's excellent on diagnosing. But treatment is another area. Treatment is not one of their fortes, but they can diagnose, and so what we do in terms of when somebody comes in and they have a diagnosis, the first thing I'm going to tell my clients slash patients is to now think about your body like you do your automobile, because the automobile is designed as a carbon copy of your body. It operates the exact same way.
Speaker 1:When you purchase an automobile, what do they say? At X, number of months, whatever, you need to take the car for a maintenance checkup and you follow those instructions. The same thing applies to your body in terms of when you see your body, in terms of it needs a maintenance checkup as well. And I throw something else in there Not only are we talking about the physical body needs a maintenance checkup. The mind needs a maintenance checkup as well, we've got to include mental health now in terms of body checkup for wellness. And I say that to say it's because when you're looking at it from that particular perspective, when something is going wrong with your car and you walk into the mechanic and say my engine light is on, I'm hearing some clanking in the back of my car. I don't know what that is. A mechanic automatically knows what it needs to do in order to start doing the repair. That's what a mechanic does. You've got to stop taking your body into the doctor's office like the doctor is a mechanic. You can't go in there and say, oh you know, my back is aching and in the lower part of my back, and expect the doctor to know what it is, because what's the first thing they're going to do? They're going to say we've got to do some tests. When we do some tests, then we can decide what we need to do for the treatment.
Speaker 1:But in the meantime, here's a prescription that deals with the pain. You're in not knowing the cause of the pain, just something to relieve the pain. So when you understand how your body operates because when pain happens it doesn't happen overnight, it's a process you may get a little pain and it's kind of oh wow, that's a little bit uncomfortable, but I can bear it. And then it comes back again, it's a little more intense. Oh, this is a little. It's bothering me a little bit more than the first one did, but I'll deal with it. And then the body's going to say okay, I gave you two warnings, you didn't pay attention. So now I'm going to give you the real deal. And now you're dealing with excruciating pain because you didn't pay attention.
Speaker 2:Are you struggling with pain or injury that's preventing you from performing at your best? Let me share a story with you about Simon, an accountant who came to see me with debilitating back pain. Simon had been pushing himself in the gym with heavy weights and poor form, which led to pain so bad he couldn't sit, stand or focus at work. We began with a thorough assessment, and I used active release techniques to help manage his pain. From there, I designed a bespoke rehab program that allowed Simon to regain his strength and fitness while addressing the root cause of his back pain. In just one month, his pain was nearly gone and two months later he's pain-free, back to lifting his maximum weights and stronger than ever. More importantly, his productivity at work has improved and he's feeling much happier. If you're dealing with pain that's affecting your life or performance, I can help you too. Let's work together to get you back on track and feeling at your best. Reach out today for a consultation at wwwbodycheckcouk and reclaim the life.
Speaker 1:When you pay attention. Now you're in control of how to take back the pain from affecting you mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, because you're paying attention to the body and that way, you're able to work with your practitioner. Because the one thing you need to understand is that when you work with a practitioner, it's not a one-way street, it's a two-way street. Just like the practitioner is working to heal you and help you to get better, what the practitioner's only role is to assist the body in the healing process, and to do that, that involves you and the practitioner working in oneness together to make this happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you said so many things that you know, I completely agree with, and it's you know, and my philosophy is no different. What I think is important to clarify at this point we're both talking about chronic pain, right? We're talking about an ongoing. We're not talking about someone has a car accident and their leg's hanging off right. We're talking about back pain, for instance, so something like back pain.
Speaker 2:It's quite interesting. When was it 2013? I woke up one morning and I thought, oh, my back aches, this doesn't feel right. And I went to get out of bed and I couldn't move Right. I thought, oh, this is strange. So I rolled out of bed Right. So I rolled out, I rolled out of bed right and I lay on the floor and I thought, oh, my left, my entire left leg is numb.
Speaker 1:I thought oh, that's.
Speaker 2:That's not good. That sounds like a like a nerve entrapment in my lumbar spine yes, yeah so I thought, well, I know how to deal with this.
Speaker 2:I've, you know, I've healed. You know many people, people with a similar injury. I'll do some mobilizations of the spine, I'll centralize the spinal cord, or at least the nerves in the lumbar spine, right, and I'll be able to get back up and I'll be fine. So I've done my mobilizations. I managed to stand up, but it still didn't feel quite right. I did some more mobilizations standing up, yes, and I said to myself this doesn't feel quite right. I did some more mobilization standing up, yes, I said to myself this doesn't feel any different like. And now I'm starting to worry.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking, oh, hang on this is more serious than I thought. Um, and basically what happened was I'd I had a herniated l45 and and a quite badly bulging l5s1 disc. Oh, wow, um. Again, I've told this story 100 times on the podcast. I won't go into too much detail, but again, the idea is is that you've got to find out what was the root cause of that issue. But what I wanted to do, I wanted to just clarify what I thought, because you know, I, I know where the dermatomes are in my leg. I kind of knew it was L4-5 and L5-S1 because that's what my body was telling me. But obviously you have to be able to read the body right.
Speaker 2:So I went to my doctor and I just wanted to get an MRI. I just needed a referral to get an MRI scan. And so I started talking to him and you know, very soon into the conversation he realized that I understood a lot more than he did, right, about lower back pain, because I've been doing it for 20 odd years, right, and I think he felt like he needed to do something right To kind of almost justify his job, right? And I think he felt like he needed to do something right to kind of almost justify his job Right. So he said oh, pop your top off, I'm just going to inspect your spine.
Speaker 2:And I thought what does that even mean? Right? And so he just ran his finger down my spine. He may have been assessing for a spondylolisthesis, maybe, right. But he ran his finger down my spine and he went oh no, it all seems good to me. And I'm thinking well, it's definitely not good, because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't good, sure, so? So anyway, he said like you know, I can, I can refer you for an mri, but it's going to be, you know, four weeks in the future, right? And I'm like no, no, no, I want it today and he's like well, obviously you know we have a taxpayer funded health service right right.
Speaker 2:So I said no, no, no, I want it today. And he's like well, you'd have to pay. I'm like, well, that's fine, I just want it today. Anyway, I had it the next day, but before I left he said oh, I'm going to give you a prescription for anti-inflammatories and for painkillers. And I said, well, I don't want any. And he's like what do you mean? I said I don't want any. He's like why not?
Speaker 2:and I said because if I'm moving into a position that's causing more that more damage I want to be able to feel it exactly, and he looked at me like you know, I should probably be going down to the local mental institute, right? And I said, look, you can write the prescription if you want. I'm not going to take them anyway. Exactly, and I think I was the first person that must have ever said anything like that to him before, I'm sure, yeah, the other thing you mentioned as well was how you know allopathic medicine is very good at diagnosing.
Speaker 2:I've actually got a lot of experience of when they've misdiagnosed quite badly, I'm sure I mean yes, they can be good sometimes, and even you know, when I got my MRI scan for my spine it did happen to completely match up with my symptoms. But sometimes you can get an MRI and it doesn't match someone's symptoms at all. That's true. I was literally talking to a client yesterday and he's got quite severe hip pain. Doctors kind of say, well, we might have to give you a hip replacement, and when they did the MRIs his good hip looks far worse than his bad hip, right? So you do have to be really, really careful with things like that.
Speaker 1:That's very true and you hit on a really good point when you said about pain medication and people need to understand what pain medication does. What it does it numbs the nerve endings so you're no longer feeling the pain, but when it wears off, you still got the problem and you're still looking for what More pain medication. And that's something that has to be understood and you have to like, and I can identify with you. I operate the same way.
Speaker 1:I was involved in a car accident where I was rear-ended, where the back of the car was all the way up there to the front Wow and the first thing that I wanted to do was to get x-rays to find out what was going on. And, just like what happened to you, the first thing they said well, like you know, you're going to need pain medication. No, because right now my body's in shock. So I don't want pain medication because I need to be able to feel where the pain is. So I know what I need to do. If I take the medication, then you're going to be dealing with.
Speaker 1:This is why you see so many people that have been in car accidents that never get over that back pain problem because of taking the pain medication, and so then now you have, you're in a situation where, like you know, you're always having back pain all the time, and it doesn't have to be that way when you get in tune with your body yeah, yeah, it's interesting when you, when you were talking earlier about you, know the analogy of the car, you know again, it's an analogy I use quite a lot myself as well, and you know when, when you, when you have that engine warning light going off on your dashboard, you that's exactly the same as a symptom on our body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's making you aware that there's a problem on the inside that you can't see. That's it. Right. So when you take, so if you're, if you've got chronic pain and you take pain medication, it's like cutting the lead to the light bulb on your dashboard because now you haven't got the signal.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, exactly on your dashboard, because now you haven't got the signal right, exactly exactly when.
Speaker 2:What you need to do is to find out what's going on with the engine and get the engine fixed, because it's something. Whatever's causing the engine to go wrong is the cause of the problem. Exactly so, you, when you were speaking and what really came to light to me is a phrase that you know we use a lot of the Czech Institute is the concept of the pain teacher. Yes, so when we're in pain, it's your subconscious mind trying to communicate something to you. Oh, definitely Right. It's your, your subconscious mind trying to communicate something to you oh, definitely right. And when you're in, when you have chronic pain, your mission is to establish what your subconscious mind is trying to tell you. You're right. And what was interesting with my, my back injury. That's quite a severe injury. It took about 22 months to rehabilitate. I mean, I'm perfectly fine now. The lesson the pain teacher was trying to teach me was to not work too hard, uh-huh, and to have more downtime. All right.
Speaker 1:All right. So guess what?
Speaker 2:happened, cru. Yeah, so I know if I work too hard I'm I'm gonna experience pain, so I now make sure that I give myself enough time to rest and recover and recuperate it's so important, and you, it's interesting how you said the lessons.
Speaker 1:And the lessons don't necessarily have to be really hardcore. They can be just some basic things that you can start doing, as I always like to say, taking back control of your life from pain and, just like what you said so elegantly, just listening to the body. It's not going to do anything to harm you. It's going to do things to help you if you are willing and open to listening. That's why, when you start talking about alternative ways to relieve pain, alternative ways to relieve pain, it has to begin with having an open mind and being receptive to just looking at not saying you got to try it right away, but be open to look at other ways. That can help me get to the goal of having optimum health and wellness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, again. Another thing that you said there is really important it's taking that power back yourself, rather than putting responsibility on someone in a white coat to fix you. The only person that can make you healthy is you, most definitely.
Speaker 1:Right, that's your power.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you can ask for help, yes, and you can get the right help at the right time, but ultimately, there's only one person that can get you healthy, and if you're not sure who that is, go and look in a mirror and you'll find that person.
Speaker 1:And the bottom line is gotta want it. It's got to be something that you want. Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be well? Do you want to be pain-free? If this is something you want, then go for it. That's why, all the universe is, I have the tools for you. They're right inside of you, and the best tool that you don't realize that you have for your healing is inside your hands. Your hands are a powerful healing tool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it is really important that you have to want it, and what I've seen over the last 29 years or so is, as practitioners, our biggest challenge isn't telling people or giving people the right advice. It's getting the people to follow the advice.
Speaker 2:You're right For them to actually change their behavior, and and that's why, at the end of last year, I actually released a course called stickability okay so it teaches people, first of all, how to get more motivated, how to get more confident in being able to make changes, but then how to really build motivation to change and to maintain it as well. I like that, yeah, because it's you know, it's something that I've spent a lot of time studying over in the last three decades almost, yes, and I kind of I kind of felt why am I keeping this to myself? Like you know, I I work with clients one-to-one and, and I'm bringing these tools out on a daily basis. You know, like someone says something to me and straight off in my head, oh they need this tool right now. Okay, I need to tell them this or I need to use this technique to help them. But I thought everyone needs that information, and so I just packaged it up in. You know, the lessons are really short. They're only like five minutes each, each lesson. Obviously you've got to do some work, right, sure, as you do with anything, and I've made it really affordable as well, because I didn't.
Speaker 2:You know, I want people to be able to make that change because, you know, right now we're in a point in time where it's more important than ever to take responsibility for your own health and not to give up that responsibility to an external force, so to speak. Did you know that 92% of people fail to follow through on their New Year's resolutions? That's right. Year after year, most of us start strong and then lose momentum by February Sound familiar, but what if this year could be different? What if you finally had the tools to make your goals stick? Introducing Stickability, a simple, effective and affordable program designed to help you overcome the cycle of failed resolutions. In just a short time, you'll learn how to create lasting habits without wasting hours or breaking the bank. This isn't just another plan. It's the solution to finally sticking to your healthy lifestyle goals. Don't let this year be like the last. Head over to stickabilitycoursecom now to enroll. It's affordable, easy to follow and packed with tools to make 2025 the year that you have the ability to make it stick.
Speaker 1:What you have done and I really like that is going back to what we talked about earlier the mindset. And what you just shared is how you're helping people to change their mindset, is how you're helping people to change their mindset. So, once you change your mindset now, you are in the driver's seat in terms of driving forward to your optimum health and wellness, because that's where it begins. Nothing's going to happen until your mind changes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and sadly I say sadly. The important thing for a lot of people to understand as well is that around 95 to 99 of all our behaviors are subconscious oh definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1:People don't even know why they're, why they're making certain choices and the fact that, like when it comes to health and wellness, you know we've been led to the quick fix. There is no quick fix? Yeah, because, like I said earlier, it did not come suddenly and now you have it. It's been building up to this point. So, if it's building up to that point, how do you expect a quick fix to solve your problem?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So just leading on nicely from mindset, why do you believe that the mind-body-spirit connection is so important in the healing process?
Speaker 1:is so important in the healing process. The reason being is because when we talk about pain and the stress connection, and when you look at pain and stress, you're looking at it physically, you're looking at it mentally, you're looking at it emotionally and you're looking at it spiritually, and that's what brings the mind, body and spirit together in the healing process. And I say that because if we're talking about someone who if I use the analogy of where we're talking about using the power of touch as it heals related to pain, stress, connection with the mind, body and spirit connection we're talking about, here's like an example If someone is physically in pain, then the first thing you're going to do and this is an example when you say, if you hit the funny bone on your elbow, and what's the first thing that you're going to do?
Speaker 2:Rub your elbow.
Speaker 1:No, what's the first thing you're going to do? Scream, and most definitely the first thing you're going to do. Scream, and most definitely the first thing you're going to do. It's going to be a verbal outlust, and when you do that, the message goes to the brain. There's trauma in the area in the elbow, and then what's the next thing you're going to do?
Speaker 1:rub your elbow you're going to rub it message then goes to the brain. We've got to now release the body's natural pain relievers to start bringing some soothing sensation and comfort to that area. That's the physical touch, that's the mind body connection on the physical side. Say, for example, someone's energy level has just hit rock bottom and they're in a state of depression and what you're going to look at all they may need is for someone to just say how are you? Is there anything I can do that might be able to help you? That's a mental and emotional touch.
Speaker 1:Through words you just communicated something and all of a sudden that person's spirit just got lifted and they're feeling much better.
Speaker 1:Or someone may be going through some type of emotional problem you know problem that they're having with their family and all they needed was someone just to say to smile at them and give them a smile and say everything's going to be all right, and just that could kind of release them. What we're looking at various forms of touch that connects the mind, body and spirit and emotions in oneness with the pain-stress connection in terms of how touch affects, and that's how you bring all of that together and it kind of helps us to change how we see touch and move it from being something negative as being something that's culturally positive, because it's a universal thing for everybody, it's something that everybody can understand and relate to. Two of the most powerful touching words is called thank you, and just saying thank you does a lot for people that we don't even know how that just lifted somebody, and so that's what we've got to start thinking about when we start talking about mind, body and spirit in connection to pain and stress, connection in terms of relieving pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's quite interesting again, when you were speaking there, what came to my mind was quite often I'll have a consultation with a client they're normally, most of the time, they're 30 minutes, and very early on in the consultation it becomes very clear to me that the best thing for me to do right now is just to listen, right, and I think I think the temptation can be as a practitioner, is to feel like you need to do something right. Yes, whereas you know, and as I get older, you kind of it gets easier to not do anything, but to listen to someone and I feel it's especially I mean, first of all, it's special, I mean, first of all, it's very powerful but not just to listen but to make it clear to the person that's talking that you're hearing them as well, exactly, so you know.
Speaker 1:Just to paraphrase back what they've said, so that they know that they're being understood as well understood as well, and that's so important because of the fact that listening is something that's very hard for people to do. Most people just hear words. They don't listen, because when you're listening, there's always a message on top and there's a message underneath. So if you're listening, you're listening for the message that's underneath and that's where you get at the healing process, because now they have shared with you their. That's a trust factor between you and your client and your client and you as the practitioner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I think another reason why I see it as a as a powerful tool when working with my clients is because, quite often, I'm the first person that's actually ever listened to them. Exactly, you know, and it's very sad again, I'm not, I'm not trying to bash medical doctors but they don't listen. Quite often, very, very rarely do they actually listen. It's like oh, you've got this, okay, you need to do that and and, to be fair, they don't have the time to listen either, right, and they don't have the training to listen, you know, and that is crucial.
Speaker 1:That's, and that's the reason why most people are very frustrated and disturbed with health care practitioners in the conventional medicine, because of the fact that it's not about listening.
Speaker 1:It's about let me take this test and we find out what we're doing. Then let me find what medication is related to this test that I have administered for you, and we go from there. And so then what do we do? We're back and forth, cutting out medication, increasing medication or whatever, and that's not dealing with treatment, because if your patient has come to you saying they're having a problem with the medication, that means you need to be listening. What is the problem that they are having with the medication? That needs to be answered and it's something that, like you know, you should not ignore and say, okay, well, well, let's just cut it back. No, no, no. They're trying to tell you, it does this to me, it does that to me, me, and you're not listening because, like you said earlier, you're not trained in the repercussions of medications that you prescribe to your patients, and that's a real problem yeah, yeah, yeah, I completely agree and again it's.
Speaker 2:It's really interesting you say that. Um, well, we were talking before we started recording and, um, I've spent a fair bit of time in and out of hospital, not not not for my own requirement, but helping others and someone who was in hospital. They were rushed to hospital with, let's just say it was, severe tummy pain.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:And when they first got there they were seen by a consultant and the consultant said sounds like you've got diverticulitis, but want to do a CT scan just to make sure before we diagnose anything. But sounds like you've got diverticulitis. So many hours later they got a ct scan and days later they got a diagnosis of colitis right. And then two weeks later the the same issue happened. They went to a different hospital.
Speaker 1:Right right.
Speaker 2:They got to the hospital they looked at all the tests that were done at the other hospital. They ran their own tests, but this time the doctor actually asked questions.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Right Then did a ultrasound. Right Then did a ultrasound.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And said the reason you're having tummy problems is because your bladder is inflamed, because it's not releasing urine and it's blocking your colon. And the reason that I well, he said the reason I think your bladder is inflamed is because of the medication you're on. He said the medication you're on. He said the medication you're on is only supposed to be used for four weeks and I can see that you've been on it for 10 years oh my goodness right.
Speaker 2:So the answer was that this person didn't have diverticulitis, didn't have colitis, they had a bladder issue caused by the medication that they'd been prescribed. Right, but it took the first, the first medical doctor to actually properly listen. And you know, again, I should say, the first hospital they went to it was like a war zone in there. You know, I can see why things get missed and why the doctors don't have time to ask the right questions, but it's it's very rare that I I give to a medical doctor but this one who actually worked out what the issue was. Again we're going back to causality. What was the cause?
Speaker 1:But look at the suffering that that patient has had gone through for all those years.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh wow, yeah, but again, it just shows you a little bit of time, a little bit of interest. Asking the right questions and actually listening to the answers can really help you get to the root cause of the problem.
Speaker 1:Exactly exactly, and it's crucial that you get second opinions and you get opinions that feels good to you, not just because somebody says it, is it something that you can relate to? Does it feel good to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, I want to move on a little bit and I'm actually going to backtrack a little bit to move forwards. If that makes any kind of sense, sure, so obviously we started offtrack a little bit to move forwards. If that makes any kind of sense, sure, so obviously we started off talking a little bit about reflexology, but what we didn't do, we didn't define what reflexology actually is. So for those people that perhaps don't know what reflexology is, could you just explain what it is? Hey, rebels, did you know? I now produce an exclusive, no Punches Pulled episode every month? These episodes feature controversial guests who aren't afraid to expose lies, share stories of being gaslit or cancelled and provide real-world solutions for achieving optimal health and maintaining your freedom. These are the kind of episodes that got me cancelled back in 2022, your freedom. These are the kind of episodes that got me cancelled back in 2022, booted off Facebook, twitter, youtube and even deplatformed from LinkedIn. But I'm still here and these powerful episodes are available exclusive for subscribers.
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Speaker 1:Okay, reflexology is the art and science of working specific reflex nerve ending points on the hands, feet and ears to relax the body, improve circulation, reduce toxins and impurities and bring about a sense of relieving pain as well. Relieving pain as well the way that I can best kind of explain it to you. If you ever look at a chart of the nervous system and you'll see how all the nerve endings, they begin in your head and they run straight through your body, ending in your hands, feet and ears. And so there are specific points on the hands and on the feet that connect to organs and systems of the body that we usually activate when we're reflexing the nerve endings to relieve pain or find whatever the stress and discomfort is.
Speaker 1:Another way that I can kind of make it a little clearer think about a reflexologist as being an electrician, because when your electricity goes out, you can just flip the circuit breaker and all of a sudden electricity will come on. If you do that and electricity doesn't come on, you have to call an electrician in, because what you're talking about, there's a problem with the wiring, so the connection isn't happening in order for you to get electricity that you need. And so that's what a reflexologist is. It's like they are the electrician of the body. They work specifically with reconnecting the nerve endings to the specific points that may be having a problem, be it circulation, be it elimination, be it pain, be it removal of toxins and impurities. So that's like the concept of how reflexology works.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, from looking at reflexology myself, there seems to be quite a similarity to acupuncture. Would that be correct to be?
Speaker 1:quite a similarity to acupuncture, would that be correct? In essence it is. The only difference is acupuncture works specifically on the nerve endings directly in the body, from head to toe, whereas in reflexology we only work the nerve endings found in the hands, feet and ears, specifically in terms of what we do. But the concept is still quite the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So you mentioned again. My own experience of receiving reflexology is I just always feel really good afterwards. I mean, it can be a little bit painful when it's being performed on you, I find, anyway, but I always feel really really good afterwards.
Speaker 1:I like that question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say. So. What is it that makes people feel good after having reflexology?
Speaker 1:Let me kind of back up. When you talk about reflexology, you talk about it in the standpoint of the cultural connections, because there are several different cultural connections in terms of administering reflexology. One of the things about the Western culture we don't have a high pain tolerance and so by not having a high pain tolerance, if you get a reflexology session, that may be painful, that might be something you might not want to consider during reflexology because it was painful. But what you're not understanding is that it's the pain that you're feeling, that's relieving the pain that you're feeling. That's relieving the pain. That's the concept, and I say that to say, which goes back to the quick fix. So, like you know, we want it, you know. Basically, you know, make it comfortable and we'll deal with it, because we're only then looking at it from the standpoint of relaxation and not relieving.
Speaker 1:That's the difference, and I share with you, because I've had the opportunity to study reflexology in China as well, and when I was in China because I was studying, I didn't get a chance to have a reflexology session until it was close to the time that I was returning back to the States.
Speaker 1:And when I went through that reflexology session it was excruciatingly painful. The pain was so intense but I knew what was going on in terms of what they were working on as it related to me. But the pain was so intense that it lasted for a week, remember and I'm coming back to the States but I understood the process because in the Asian culture, when you see a reflexologist, the first thing they're going to ask you, they're going to ask to look at your hands and what they're looking for is the callus on your knuckles. That's what they're looking for and that's what determines mastery in terms of the callus on your knuckles. And I thought that was quite fascinating in terms of how we deal with reflexology from that particular point. But the pain process happens for a reason because the pain process is getting directly to the area that is really holding toxins that need to be released from the system, and that's usually what's happening when you have a painful reflexology session.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm someone that doesn't mind pain when it's in that way. I mean, I used to see a massage therapist many years ago and he was a big guy. He was. I mean, he was big, he looked like a big rugby player. I think he was once upon a time. He looked like a big rugby player. I think he was once upon a time.
Speaker 2:And I mean I'm talking, I would have been in my early 30s maybe, but I used to really like a really tough massage, right, I don't think I was ever bruised, which is always a good sign. Sure, I've seen people come out black and blue for massage therapists. Yeah, that's not how it should be done. Exactly, exactly. But again, I would always feel so good afterwards.
Speaker 1:Well, the experience that I had in China, you know, in terms of the painfulness I mean, I definitely have a high pain tolerance, so that is not an issue for me. I mean, I have, I definitely have a high pain tolerance, so that is not an issue for me. But the fact of the matter was the areas that they were working on. I knew that there was some stress, pain connections that needed to be released, and we're talking about. You know, you're a practitioner, you're constantly working all the time and, like you know, we're probably the worst people when it comes to taking care of ourselves. And so that's what that was really all about. Like you said, with the experience, okay, you need to slow it down, you need to start administering to yourself. Like you know, you're in need of a cleansing, you're in need of a healer, and these are the areas that you need to be looking at in terms of your own personal healing. And so that was the essence that I got out of the pain that was connected with that session.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how would?
Speaker 1:you say that reflexology is used as like a medication-free pain relief alternative. Well, it's used as a medication-free pain relief alternative from the standpoint that, by stimulating the nerve endings on the hands, the nerve endings to the brain, to release the body's natural pain relievers known as endorphins, which is the same concept that you use in pain medication. The only difference is it numbs the nervous system so that you are no longer feeling anything, while when you're doing reflexology, the nervous system is still operational.
Speaker 2:Have you worked with people with fibromyalgia?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I have. And they go through some serious pain, you know, and they have definitely found reflexology to be real relieving for their pain. And what I do in my practice because it's virtual we work on teaching people how to do the basic reflexology techniques for their particular pain problem and then we incorporate how to do the reflexology for the whole body as it relates to their health problems. So, which means a person can learn how to do reflexology on themselves for an area, or you can have a family member learn how to do reflexology, so that way you now have your own reflexologist available to you 24-7 in your household. Purpose of at least one family member being able to know how to do reflexology in terms of relieving pain and stress inside the family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I hadn't. You know, I hadn't even thought about doing reflexology on yourself, but I guess on your hands it would be quite simple to do.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's kind of hard on your feet, but you can really do it on your hands. On your stuff you can work on your hands, but on your feet it's it's kind of hard on your feet, but you can really do it on your hands. Yeah, on your stuff you can work on your hands, but on your feet it's really hard because you do harm to your body because of how you have to position yourself to work on your feet and that would not be very beneficial.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, unless you were like 12 months old, and it would be quite easy, wouldn't it? Yes, sir, put a big toe in their mouth, and things like that exactly back in the day so you've mentioned culture already. But what, why is it important? You know in in terms of, you know, pain relief, wellness treatment plan, why, why is culture important? Where does that come in?
Speaker 1:wellness treatment plan.
Speaker 1:Why is culture important? Where does that come in? Culture is very important because, if you think about it, I always tell my clients if you can connect with some older members in your family or older members in your community and just sit down and talk to them and ask them questions about what were some of the cultural healing techniques that you use or some of the cultural healing techniques that you can remember and how they worked. Because, you believe it or not, those same techniques are still workable today and that's based on culture and being. Because we're so disconnected from each other in terms of we don't talk about the cultural experience, the cultural exchanges, because everyone grew up with some type of a cultural healing remedy that they can remember that they went through as a child and that's a part of the cultural healing remedy that they can remember that they went through as a child and that's a part of the cultural connection in terms of healing and wellness. And in allopathic medicine, we fail to connect the cultural connection, because that plays a big role in the pain stress connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting connection. Yeah, it's interesting, you know, when you look at a lot of the philosophies that are around today, the thousands of years old, whether it's acupuncture, whether it's yoga, um, you know shamanism, all these things are, you know absolutely ancient philosophy, you know energy meridians, traditional chinese medicine these are thousands and thousands of years old. And I think, I think, what a lot of people are probably unaware of is that modern medicine is about a hundred years old, or maybe just a little bit older than that. You're right. And and what was interesting I don't know if you're familiar with the flexner report, I think it was in 1912, I think that the rockefellers, you know, asked, uh, this guy, flexner, to do a report, and what he came forward with is the modern medical model that we have that uses petrochemicals, which, of course, the rockefellas pretty much owned petrol back to back then, or oil, definitely. And and the other thing was was that they wanted to remove all of the ancient wisdom from healing, right, you?
Speaker 2:know, you hear all the time people say, oh homeopathy oh, that's a load of nonsense, right right? Without say, oh homeopathy oh that's a load of nonsense, right Right? Without even having looked into homeopathy Exactly. So, yeah, there's definitely a lot of ancient wisdom out there, and I think it is important to try and look back and see what people were doing for thousands of years, possibly longer than thousands of years.
Speaker 1:And look at your cultural connection to it you are culturally connected to it and see, that's the piece that nobody talks about. You know a prime example which I can share when I was in my 20s, I got diagnosed with hypertension and what happened was at that time I was going to school, you know, and working full time, and I worked at night, which meant I ate late at night. You know all the wrong things that you could possibly do, but the problem was, as a child, I always suffered with migraine headaches and I never took any medication. Even as a child, I would just go in a dark room and just lay down and be quiet until it passed over. But this particular time the headache was so excruciating and it was going on for three days. I'm still working, still going to school and doing all of that. So my family said well, you know, you better go check this out. So when I go to the doctor, the doctor's telling me now you on the verge of a stroke. And so my antennas immediately went up because I knew what that meant, because what that's saying, and here we go. We're talking from a cultural perspective. When you're talking hypertension, you're talking about the genetic connection and as it relates to hypertension, you're talking about the whole family eating the same way and you activate the gene so that it's in the negative. And so for me, when I got the prescription that said this is the medication that you will need to take for hypertension automatically, I looked at every last one of my family members who was diagnosed with hypertension and they were on pain medication for life and I said that will never happen to me. I'm not taking any medication for hypertension. So what I did?
Speaker 1:Back then there was a book called Back to Eden. I mean, we have all that we have now. That Back to Eden book by Jethro Cross became my Bible. Then there was another book called Cooking with Mother Nature by Dick Gregory. Those two books I used to put together my wellness program in terms of not taking medication for hypertension.
Speaker 1:The first thing I did which I would never advise anybody to do I stopped eating meat immediately, cut it out right then, and there, the day I left the doctor's office, I cut it out. But what happened was it created another problem for me because I became a severe anemic, because meat puts fuel in your system and I became anemic. So now I had to deal with that problem, but I say that as I fast forward to say the fact of the matter is I've never had a hypertension pressure attack since that incident, ever decision that I had to change so that I would not become a part of the cultural connection of pain and stress as it relates to hypertension. That was connected to my family, and so these are the things you have to look at Now. For me, I would never advise a client to do what I did, but I was my own research. That's what that was. I became the research piece in terms of what you need, what you can do to not have to take medication.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's interesting you mentioned those two books. I was actually thinking of another book, even before you mentioned books, and that was nourishing traditions by sally fallon. Yes, that's a really great book. Um another one it doesn't go into as much detail in terms of actual foods, but western, a price's book. Um, nutrition and physical degeneration is another really good book, just to understand how we're all different and we need different diets, you know.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and the thing that we need to here we go back again it's understanding your body, listening to your body, paying attention, and some things may have to be drastic and some things don't have to be drastic. It's just deciding to make a change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And again, that's why I put my stickability course together, because for most people, change is challenging, it takes energy, it can be quite scary to change because we are creatures of habit. So when someone's suggested to change a habit, it generally creates a fear response. What do you mean? I can't get home and watch three hours of television while stuffing my face with chocolate every night. You know exactly exactly. So again it comes back to you know, empowering yourself and taking your own power back. Yes, and not having to rely on anybody else because, again, you know, if people didn't realize before 2020, you can't. Not having to rely on anybody else because, again, you know, if people didn't realize before 2020, you can't. You can't rely on anyone else to look after your health.
Speaker 1:Not in this day and age. You are. You are the health connector.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Is there anything else you want to add? Anything else we might have kind of missed off? Any important points you want to get across before we wrap up?
Speaker 1:Well, the one thing I'd like to do is, in the African tradition, we have a practice of when you visit someone's home for the first time, you bring a gift. I have a gift for you and your listeners. I have a gift for you and your listeners. I've put together a medication and addiction-free pain and stress relief poster that shares all of the various ways that you can use alternatives in relieving pain, and all you have to do is go to touchologyreflexologycom and download the poster. And that's my gift to you and your listeners. And the other thing that I would probably say in closing and leaving your listeners is that the the most powerful healing tool that you can give yourself each and every day is, when you wake up, the gift of gratitude, wake up being thankful, giving thanks, because that's what sits the pace for your day. And if you wake up being thankful, you can start your day knowing that the power of touch heals all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very well said. I like that. I like that. Is there anywhere else that you want to send people to where people can find you, or is it just that one web address?
Speaker 1:People can visit my website, focusonhealingcom, and if you go to my website, I encourage you go to the contact page and write down any questions, any concerns you may have, and trust me I will definitely get back and respond to you with answers. But that's where you can reach me. I'm also available on LinkedIn and Instagram as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. And what's next for you?
Speaker 1:Well, what's coming up next for me is kind of like you know what you are doing. I have. I'll be releasing what I call a five series digital ebook on customized reflexology that's related from infants to seniors, and that way you get special focus in terms of how you could start using reflexology for working with your family specifically in whatever area that's of interest to you. So that's what's coming on the horizon.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, fantastic, angelica, thank you so much for your time. I've really, really enjoyed talking to you today and I have to say, out of all my guests, you have my most favorite accent.
Speaker 1:so well, I thank you. It was my pleasure and just to be able to you know. You were definitely a very good host and you asked some really very uh, potent questions that I really enjoyed answering, so I, too, thank you.
Speaker 2:My pleasure, my pleasure. So that's all from NJDK and me for this week, but don't forget to join me same time, same place next week on the Radical Health Rebel podcast. Thanks for tuning in, remember to give the show a rating and a review and I'll see you next time.
